


A Lesson in living

by Silvered_Fox



Series: The Dorm Chef [1]
Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Fluff, Gen, pointlessly cute things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11207841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvered_Fox/pseuds/Silvered_Fox
Summary: Shinji closed his eyes and tried to tune out the sounds that were drifting over to him from the kitchen. He had gotten back to the dorm from a long day and just wanted to get some rest but the sounds and the occasional smell he was beginning to notice wafting from the kitchen were not letting him.





	A Lesson in living

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mystikari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystikari/gifts).



Shinji closed his eyes and tried to tune out the sounds that were drifting over to him from the kitchen. He had gotten back to the dorm from a long day and just wanted to get some rest but the sounds and the occasional smell he was beginning to notice wafting from the kitchen were not letting him.

 

He cracked open an eye at the very soft almost swear he heard and the pure dismay that came along with it had him sighing.

 

"Nothing to it then" he muttered to himself and dragged himself off of the couch.

 

A moment later he stood and took in the small disaster zone of their poor innocent kitchen, and the flustered attempts of their blue haired support trying to make... what even was she cooking?

 

He sighed again and shuffled closer. Fuuka gasped and looked over at him guiltily. "Ah, Aragaki-senpai!" she tried to keep her body in between his line of sight and the horrible mess she'd made of the dish she had attempted cooking but she realized that it was a bit too late for that.

 

"Ah I'm so sorry if I woke you up" He raised an eyebrow but just looked over at what she had been trying to cook. It didn't look like anything particularly challenging but if so why was she so flustered about it?

 

He did a quick mental survey of who had cooked when in the dorms and realized that he had never seen her even attempt to make so much as a salad. He was quickly realizing just why.

 

One last sigh since it wouldn't do for him to seem too enthusiastic about helping her - she was just his team mate. It wasn't like they were friends or he was trying to become close. It was always better to keep people at a distance especially when you knew that you wouldn't be with them for very long. They would solve the mysteries of the dark hour and go their separate ways. But still...

 

He shook his head and moved closer. "What were you trying to cook?"

 

Fuuka wasn't sure at first how to answer but after a moment of staring at her senpai with his gruff manner of speaking she managed to squeak out "A-an omelette"

 

It was embarrassing to have messed up this badly around her senpai but she really was trying hard. She blushed and tried to discreetly move the remains of the egg off to the side. Before she could finish she was startled by Aragaki-san coming up next to her and reaching for the pan, not even asking before helping to scrape it off and into the trash can.

 

He looked over at her when she stood slightly flushed and confused, unsure of what to say to him. She didn't want to just ask him out right since she was still finding her voice after he had just walked in and started ... putting a pan on the stove?

 

"Um... Aragaki...san?" He looked over at her and huffed a bit before softening at her confused expression.

 

"I'll help you this once." She almost let out an undignified squeak as she tried to figure it she heard that right. He didn't let her feel off balance for long though as he plowed on. "Here. The others will be back soon enough and we all will want dinner right? I'll teach, you help."

He seemed like he was trying to keep seeming cold but there was something warm under the surface. She couldn't quite use her persona in the real world but she still had a good sense of a person and everything in her was telling her to trust her senpai right now. She beamed at him and then got worried that she would just mess up whatever he tried to help her make.

 

"I - thank you, but I'm not a very good cook. I would probably just make it harder for you to do things if I stayed in here." She intended to see herself out so there wasn't a repeat of the waste of perfectly good food from her lack of experience but he stopped her ignoring her worries while he looked into the fridge to assess what ingredients they had to work with at the moment.

 

His back to her as he saw that they were low on eggs, the ones that had been in the fridge were now a gunky half burned mess at the bottom of the trash can - "rice, carrots, onions" he muttered to himself and kept going through the cabinets.

 

The dorm was kept rather well stocked but it was hit or miss sometimes on what food items were there on any given night. With so many differing tastes in close proximity things got used up in a haphazard order.

 

"Peppers, hmm some lemon, fish..." He trailed off and looked over at Fuuka who was still staring at him like she was about ready to run away from her own inability to cook even rice balls.

 

"Here" He handed her an onion and a knife and directed her towards the cutting board he had pulled out of one of the cubby holes. He gave his hands a quick wash and addressed her before she could bolt out of the kitchen like she seemed almost ready to do.

 

"Do you know how to cut up an onion at least?" He waited for her to either nod and get started chopping it or... keep looking like a lost little lamb.

 

How was he supposed to keep his distance if his team members insisted on needing him to help them all the time. He pointedly ignored the memory of sneaking into the kitchens late at night to make up some home made meatloaf balls for Koromaru while everyone was out and busy the other night.

 

When Fuuka still didn't move he reached over and took the knife back from her and set about cutting off the ends of the onion so he could peel off the outer layer and cut it in half.

 

"Here. Watch what I do to this first half and then do the same to the other one." He deftly chopped it into small pieces going slow to make sure Fuuka could keep track of what he was doing the whole while. He didn't really give her much of a choice before pushing the knife back towards her and watching for a moment as she almost fumbled it in her hands. "Hold your fingers like this" he raised his knuckles so that she could see that they were curled in just a bit.

 

She was worried that she would not be able to stop blushing but she also didn't have the heart to tell her senpai that she wouldn't help when he'd all but recruited her and he hadn't made fun of her for burning something so simple as an omelette so she decided that she would do her best. "Like this?" She cut down tentatively and when he nodded at her that it was ok she tried to do what he had done. The chunks were a bit larger and rougher than his half of the onion but he took them and tossed them into the pot, with a little butter, and started them simmering.

 

He pulled out a few carrots, and a handful of potatoes and a second cutting board and then asked her if she felt up to helping him peel them. Once again he showed her first how to peel and cut them up and left her to her task. She felt slightly intimidated that he wasn't going to keep watch of her like when she handled the onion and her brow furrowed as she concentrated with all her ability on not messing them up.

 

It would have been silly of him to try and help her only for her to slow him down and have him have to watch over her every move she thought, so she held onto the hope that she could be a good helper at the least.

 

Shinjiro hid a smile as he went back to the refrigerator at the look on her face. She didn't seem to have quite realized that his intent was more to help her learn than for her to help him. He wasn't about to let her know that though.

 

He set the cut of beef on the second cutting board and made quick work of cubing it while waiting for her to finish cutting up the vegetables. He glanced over and saw that she was barely halfway through the carrots and left the meat on the board while he washed his hands again and moved over to help her peel. When everything was diced up he told her to go pull a bowl from the bottom cabinet and dug out some flour and spices.

 

Nodding to himself he had her hold the bowl as he poured in the flower and tossed everything in. He made sure that he saw her watching and noticed her hands hold the bowl a little steadier as she started to get used to his odd method of teaching.

 

"You put the meat in there like this, and then put it in the pan with the onions" he said. "Keep holding the bowl"

 

She held the bowl like dropping it would cause a rift into Tartarus to open and he got all of the meat coated pretty quickly.

 

He gave the meat a quick stir and waited for it to brown while she was cleaning up everything and he had to fight not to laugh at how seriously she was taking everything. Well at least she might learn. He shook his head and got back to focusing. He wanted this done before the rest of the team came back and saw him doing something so domestic like _cooking_.

 

He also had to make sure that she didn't take off yet. He thrust the spatula at her and said "Stir"

 

"Y-yes!" She started stirring too fast and he told her to slow down while he rinsed his hands off one more time and then dumped the rest of the vegetables in, along with the water.

 

"Relax for a bit. This needs to simmer for a while." He set a curry block to the side of the pot and went out to the couch to rest a bit. Her eyes widened as she finally realized just what they were cooking together. She’d had no idea as she followed along with his lead up till now.

 

"Make sure you stir it every few minutes." She could do with a bit of confidence in her cooking though... he made sure to sit where he could keep an eye on the pot. It wouldn't do for the curry to go the way of the omelette.

 

He glanced at the clock a bit curious that no one else was home at the dorm yet but he supposed it was lucky in this case.

 

He left Fuuka stirring and looking over towards her every so often. Cooking was an important skill to hold. He'd helped take care of people since they were all young together but he still felt self conscious if he was called on it. Better to appear set aside and uninterested but he just couldn't let the girl keep flailing like that. Also he didn't really want to see their entire stock of food be burned to a crisp.

 

Akihiko was the first to get back to the dorm. He looked into the kitchen and saw Shinjiro keeping a sidelong gaze towards Fuuka who was stirring with single minded determination and smiled to himself. He pretended not to be paying any attention and sailed past towards his room. It was pretty obvious to him that Shinjiro was teaching Fuuka how to cook and wouldn't want to be called out on anything.

 

Fuuka almost dropped the spoon when she realized Shinjiro was right next to her again. He took the spoon from her and added the rest of the ingredients. He'd split the blocks in half and added only half of each to her surprise and she found herself asking why he had done that before she could stop and realize how comfortable she was with his teaching her.

 

He seemed amused that she finally had spoken up. "You get a better flavor if you don't stick to just one store brand" he said wrapping the rest up and putting it in the fridge for another day later that week.

 

"You should get some rice. And call that guy down. And anyone else who's back."

 

He took a bowl and tried not to make a big deal of it but he was pretty proud of how it had come out.

Maybe I should start cooking more often. These guys eat like crap. Someone needs to make sure they're taking care of themselves. He thought to himself as he watched Akihiko grab some curry for himself and Fuuka shyly helped herself to a bowl, still looking like she couldn't believe that it had come out as good as it had.

 

She didn't call attention to Shinjiro, or make a big deal out of her helping to cook it but as the other members of SEES floated on in and chattered animatedly about how good it smelled in the dorm she smiled over at him in thanks.

 

He nodded his head towards her in acknowledgment and to hide his own smile behind his dish. _They'd be ok_ . He thought. _They'll be ok_.

 

 

 

 


End file.
